


Panic Station

by nikarte



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Comedy, Drama, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Trans Character, Trans Keith (Voltron), all characters depicted as 18+, definitely more characters theyre just our mains, everyone is american but has moved to the uk, implied depression, itll be reat, lets go baby!, motorbike rides are always fun, tags are hard ill add more as i go, they all live together so theyre gonna annoy the fu c k out of each other but they have good times
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 22:28:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15616395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikarte/pseuds/nikarte
Summary: in which pidge laughs at everyone getting used to british customs, keith cant decide how he feels about his own life, and lance pretends he knows how to live his





	Panic Station

 

 

 

If he was telling the truth, Keith would have to say he doesn’t trust his bike as much as he should be able to. He loves her, he really does. The way she purrs and trembles beneath him, the soft burning smell that comes from her exhaust whenever he starts her up, the fact that every now and then her left footrest jiggles beneath his boot even though he’s tightened it countless amounts of times, the fact that she sometimes jumps and accelerates far quicker than he’d intend to because every now and then the throttle loosens up and slides when he tries to reach for the brakes.

… Yeah, now that he thinks about it, he really does need to buy a new bike that doesn’t come half built and second hand. But even though he’s only had Red for a year, he's attached. Keith has already built her up to be as fast as she could be- has already painted little doodles onto her body to make her his.

He eyes up his front tank cove, the small alien head he’d drawn on with a black marker when he was bored at some point a few months ago, as Red’s tyres kick up a sand trail behind them. He tugs on the throttle, pressing his body as close to hers as possible and grinning as she roars beneath him, the two of them a streamline curve in the dust.  
Keith loves this. His thighs tighten around Red’s body as the speed finds its way into his bloodstream, everything around and inside him hurtling into hyper speed, the adrenaline keeping his eyes wide and grin toothy as the ground starts to slowly curve beneath Red’s wheels.

He loves everything about her, but most of all he loves how she makes him forget the world around him. He leaves everything behind, and lets her plough through everything in front, leaving Keith to mindlessly enjoy the wind that whips wisps of his hair against his cheeks.

Adjusting his footing a little, he measures up just how fast he’s going to have to have Red go if he wants to jump the upcoming gap between cliffs. The ground is steadily becoming steeper, so Keith tugs on the throttle further, Red growling in his ears. He hasn’t been able to jump this cliff just yet- it’s a lot wider than any he’s found in this area, and far wider than any he's jumped back home.

But he's ready. He's ready to feel weightless, ready to watch the gap pass beneath him and feel the thrill of having no weight on his shoulders whatsoever, just the hum of Red’s engine between his thighs.

The cliff-edge approaches. And Keith is so caught up in the moment and _ready_ that when his phone starts buzzing in his pocket he's thrown so out of loop that he slams on the brakes, spinning Red to a skidding halt at the edge of the jump, clouds of sand enveloping his legs.

With his bike stopped, he finally remembers to breathe, letting his shoulders go lax as he lets the kickstand down so he can slump backwards a little and tug his vibrating phone from out of his jacket pocket. He doesn’t need to check the caller I.D to know who it is.

“Where are you?” Shiro asks by way of greeting.

“I’ll be there soon.” He deadpans, resting his free hand on Red’s body as if he's comforting her.

“Are you sure? Because we’re waiting outside the apartment building right now and I don’t see your bike. And that usually means you’re hours away.”

Keith scoffs at the irritated tone in his brother’s voice, running his free hand up to Red’s handlebars and turning her front from side-to-side. “If you wanted to safely drive up here, sure. But I’m on Red, so I’ll be back in 20 if you get off the phone now.”

Shiro huffs, but is already persuaded. “20 minutes. Or I’m going to leave something really nasty smelling in our room and never tell you where it is and you’ll have to suffer with it for the rest of-”

“Yeah, I got it, I’ll be there in 20.” He says with a quiet laugh, saying his goodbyes before zipping his phone back up in his pocket again.

As he pulls up the kickstand and grips onto Red’s handles once again, he looks out across from one plateau to the other, his smile fading.

After a minute of thinking, he sighs and turns her around.

“Maybe another time, girl,” he murmurs, Red humming in agreement as they speed down and away from the cliff’s edge.

-

“That was 30 minutes.” Shiro comments, piling his suitcase into the back of the taxi without effort, then turning to take Matt’s and doing the same.

Keith blanks him for a moment, deciding that instead of confessing that he took the long drive home, he should get in the car and pretend he was right on time.

“I was right on time,” he confirms, opening the door to the passenger seat.

“Shotgun!” Right on cue, the small ball of caffeine that he’s grown to know and love hurtles into his side, knocking Keith out of the way so she can climb into the passenger seat and grin madly up at him. He pointedly decides to ignore the quick snort of laughter from Shiro.

“Oh, come on!” He whines, throwing his arms in the air. “You’re the smallest!”

“Yes,” Pidge confirms, shuffling and making herself comfortable in the seat. “That means I am the most fragile and at risk of being crushed between the walking pectoral muscle you call a brother and my pointy stick of a brother.” She flashes Keith another smile and refuses to falter under his glare, and instead turns to the cab driver. “Hey, does your radio work with Bluetooth?”

Admitting defeat with a few grumbles, Keith opens the door for the back of the taxi and slumps down, about to slam the door shut when Shiro catches it.

“Did you lock the apartment door?” He asks.

“Yeah.” Keith replies, trying to shut the door again but Shiro keeps it held open.

“Turn off the lights?”

“Yeah.” He insists, and tries again only to be stopped again.

“And you have my old set of keys on you?”

“Yes, Shiro, is that all?” He glares up at him, daring him to keep the car door open for a second longer.

“... Can you scoot over? I don’t wanna be in the middle.”

“What? Just get in the other si-” Keith turns to see Matt has already taken up residence on the opposite side of the car with a sheepish grin.

“Sorry, Keith. You’re smaller than me, you won’t be crushed between us.”

It takes every grain of patience Keith has within him not to outright groan in frustration as he scoots to the middle of the car, shoulders squishing together when Shiro gets in next to him and shuts the door.

Pidge snorts from the front, kicking her feet onto the dashboard. The driver eyes her warily but honestly looks a little too scared of her to tell her off for it.

As the car makes its way down the motorway, Keith folds in on himself between Matt and Shiro and tries to avoid involving himself in conversation.

“How is America different than here?” Pidge chirps from the front. “Did you guys like, all have your own guns and stuff?” She gasps and turns to look at everyone piled in the back. “Matt, can you bring me a gun home?”

Shiro chuckles quietly, shaking his head just as Matt squawks out a sharp _no, I cannot._

“It’s not too different,” Shiro decides. “The weather is nicer where Keith and I are from, and the streets are different. The roads are really wide and everything is in blocks? Like grids.”

“Does it smell different?”

Keith snorts and Shiro splutters, “What?”

“Does it smell different than the UK does? Like I know you guys drive on the right side of the road and your drivers are on the left side of the car blah blah, but what about the atmosphere?”

“I… honestly couldn’t tell you.”

“I’ll tell you if America smells different, Pigeon.” Matt pipes up, snickering behind his hand.

“Thanks.” She grins and tucks her feet under her on the seat again. Keith notices the driver eye her again, but he still doesn’t say anything. “I wanna know what the people are like. Like, I know you can’t generalise people, but I wanna know if strangers act different y’know? Like here, everyone is like… a zombie. And we only smile at each other when we want something, and just roam.”

“I wouldn’t say-” Shiro is cut off by the gremlin that is Pidge.

“But maybe in America everyone greets each other with a secret US handshake?! We wouldn’t know!”

“Yes, Pidge.” Keith finally involves himself, laughing quietly. “Shiro and I have been hiding a secret handshake from you for the past two years and never told you about it.”

She scoffs. “I wouldn’t put it past you two.”

-

As they pull up to the airport, the group have become a lot quieter. Pidge has started fidgeting, her feet flat on the floor of the car again as she chews on the sleeves of her oversized green bomber jacket. Keith sees the exact moment she realises her mistake when she rolls up her sleeves and wrinkles her nose at the feeling of saliva-soaked sleeves on her arms, and would laugh if they were under different circumstances.

Shiro leans forward and pays the cab driver before swinging out of the car, leaving Keith room to breathe finally and crawl out after him. He doesn’t want to help take the luggage out of the car, so he doesn’t offer.

Once they’re stood upright with their suitcases, Shiro and Matt kind of seem to let the realisation of what’s happening settle on their shoulders, and they both turn to their respective little siblings.

Said siblings are shuffling and pouting next to the cab, Pidge is chewing on her coat sleeve again.

“Ok, so…” Matt says, glancing between the two. “You remember how and when to pay rent?”

Keith expects Pidge to scoff, but instead she just drops her sleeve and nods quietly.

“And you’ve got my set of keys as well as your own?”

She pats her pocket so they all hear the jingle.

“And you remember how to not explode your popcorn packets?” Matt tries to laugh quietly, but Pidge doesn’t really smile, just nods again.

“Keith.” At the sound of his name, he turns to face Shiro with a slight frown, knowing what’s coming.

“Are you gonna tell me to be careful? Stop jumping cliffs? Take Red to an actual mechanic? Three meals a day, no exceptions? Leave my keys in the bowl so I don’t lose the-”

He’s cut off when Shiro pulls him in for a hug. He can appreciate that Shiro’s hugs are great- and he does indulge in the fact that this is the last one he’s going to get for a long time, so he hugs him back tightly.

“I’ll miss you.” Shiro murmurs, and Keith sighs a little.

“I’ll miss you too,” he offers before they part and Keith sees the moisture gathering in his brother’s eyes.

“Ew, don’t cry on me-”

“I’m not crying,” he says, crying. Keith can’t help but snicker. “Oh and you-” Shiro gently shoves his shoulder, “Lock the door. And be nice to your new roommates- try to actually interact with them.”

“Do you need us to come into the airport with you?” Pidge asks, and Keith turns just in time to see her pull away from her own hug with Matt.

“No, we’ll be fine. Use this cab to get back home, it’ll be cheaper.” Shiro comments, flashing his best smile and giving Pidge a brief hug. Matt pats Keith on the shoulder.

“Well.” Keith says dumbly.

“Well…” Shiro echoes, running his hand up his prosthetic. “I guess we’ll… see you soon.”

“Yeah, make sure to message us when you land.” Pidge pipes up, really coming to realise that they’re leaving. “And Matt, send me Twinkies. I wanna know what they taste like.”

“Yeah and have a safe flight.” Keith adds, folding his arms.

There’s a brief pause as Matt and Shiro gather their flight bags and suitcases properly, and then turn to the siblings again.

“I’ll call you.” Shiro says, and Keith doesn’t hear what Matt says to Pidge, before they’re both rolling their luggage out of the car park.

The two don’t move then, just watch as their brothers leave and wave one last time before they're disappearing into the airport.

And after a few long seconds of thoughtful silence, Pidge claps her hands together. “Welp. Wanna go stuff our faces with pizza and buy confectionary bullshit to celebrate their leave?” She grins, but Keith knows how she’s feeling.

“Hell yeah,” he mutters with a small smile, both climbing into the backseat together.

-

Turns out Keith _had_ forgotten to lock the door and turn off the lights. Oops.

Pidge doesn't mention it though as she locks it behind her, dropping her keys into the bowl and the pizza boxes on the coffee table. Keith sets down their too many bags of food-that’s-not-real-food next to them before watching her start to drop the couch pillows on the floor.

“We’re gonna camp right here with food and video games until the void has been filled. Or until the noobs get here, I think they said they land at like 11 tonight, so go get a duvet.”

Nodding, Keith goes to do just that.

-

It’s evening and the two of them have abandoned 80% of their clothing, sprawled on the floor and tangled up in a bedsheet.

“On your left,” she says, gesturing to the screen with her foot so she doesn’t have to let go of her controller.

“Thanks, Captain Rogers.”

She snorts, but quickly gasps and leans forward, “Woah, where did you learn that command?”

Keith leans forward too, “Whilst you were busy being heterosexual I studied the game command book.”

That earns him a shove to the shoulder and he laughs as he hits the floor, eyes still glued to the television and fingers spamming the controller.

"You know I can give you a run for your money when it comes to who is the biggest gay of the- shit thank you.”

He sits upright. “You owe me a doughnut for that.”

It’s silent for a moment, just the tapping of controller buttons and the video game sound effects from the tv when Keith feels something sticky thud against his face.

“Thanks. Could have aimed for my mouth, though.”

“You know I have a shit aim Keith, this is why I play the offensive with tank classes.”

They laugh, and for a moment it’s almost like their brothers are just late home- to Keith, it feels like Matt will swing the door open and start singing something terribly off-key. And Shiro will walk in after him any second now and use his Dad Voice because of all the chocolate they’re gorging on.

Then Pidge’s phone pings. “Cover me,” she grunts before leaning over the food to pick it up.

The moment stretches as Keith nearly cramps up his thumbs with how quickly he’s fiddling with the controls.

“Ah, it’s Hunk- he said their flight got delayed and they’re not going to land when they’d expected. So they might not even be here until morning. They have no idea.”

Keith’s smile starts to fade, and then it’s gone when his character dies on screen. Pidge scrambles to pick up her own controller: “Shit, Keith, that was a lame death.”

He nods but doesn’t answer- instead he reaches for a bag of skittles and leans back into his pillows to start chewing on them.

“But yeah-” her voice is strained as she focuses on the game- “you don’t have to worry about cleaning up the apartment or anything for these guys, they’re both pretty chill.”

“Wasn’t worrying about it.” Keith throws a handful of sweets into his mouth and Pidge tries to side eye him, so he gestures to the screen again with his foot: “Tank.”

“Yeah yeah, I got it,” she mumbles, and it’s quiet for a moment.

And then she clears her throat, and Keith almost rolls his eyes.

“You know, they’re pretty decent guys. They’re both really nice and have already asked a bunch of questions about you. And it’s not like-”

“Why have they asked a bunch of questions about me?” Keith scowls at his skittles.

“Well, you know, they’re going to be living with you for at least another three or four years and they already know me so it’s not like th-”

“What have they been asking?”

She shrugs and it’s clear she’s trying to appear solar focused on the game. “Typical stuff. What you’re studying, if you’ve got any pet peeves you’ll hate them for, how long we’ve known each other.”

Keith shifts, his butt going a little numb. “And what did you say?”

“The truth. That you’re insufferably lazy, arrogant, leave your leftover food on the floor so we now have ants, and that you like to bring people home to have loud annoying sex at 3am every night and never close the door whilst you’re on the toilet.”

She screeches when Keith launches a pillow at her head and she lands on the floor, effectively knocking the controller out of her hands and killing her video game character.

-

It’s nearing midnight when there’s a knock at the door. The two of them look at each other with wide eyes, challenging.

“I answered it last time,” Pidge says first.

“Well it might be Lance and Hunk and you know them better than me,” Keith counters.

“But it’s more likely that it’s not them.”

"You've showered today."

"You're a natural beauty."

“You’re closest.”

Pidge groans, eyes narrowed. “The things I do for you, Kogane.”

Keith snorts his triumph, but also sinks into the couch and away from view as he watches Pidge huff and pad over to the door.

Not a moment later she’s shuffling quickly into the living room again. “Pizza guy,” she says, stealing Keith’s wallet from his abandoned jeans on the floor. “I forgot that we ordered pizza.” So had Keith.

She pays for and accepts the pizza in her knockout hoodie/underwear outfit, hair askew, and waddles back into the room with two large boxes.

Just as she slumps down onto the floor she lets out a groan. “I don’t think I locked the door, remind me to do it when we stand up again.”

He kicks her shoulder lightly, “Lazy.”

“So, are we going to stay up to let the guys in or should we go to sleep?”

Keith takes one of the boxes from her and shrugs. “Did they text you again?”

She’s already chewing and looking at her phone and shaking her head at the same time when Keith looks up. “Nah. But that could just mean they’re not willing to pay for aeroplane wifi. You know how it is. It’s a long ass flight though, you’d think at least Lance would want to spam us with messages about how bored he is, right?” She laughs around her pizza and looks up to find Keith is halfway between scowling and wincing. “You look constipated. Talk to me, homeboy.”

“Agree to never call me homeboy ever again in your gremlin lifespan and maybe I’ll consider it.”

“You know that’s not a deal I’m going to agree with.”

“And this is why we don’t feed you after midnight.”

She cackles and wiggles back, managing to balance three large slices on her arms. “You’re avoiding the question, talk to me.”

“That was an imperative, not a que-”

“Oh, shut your english lang word hole.” That earns her the beginning of a smile from Keith, and she counts that as a win. “It’s okay, you don’t have to talk to me. I can read your mind.”

Keith raises an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

“Yup. Watch.” She drops all of her pizza crusts into the box and wipes her hands on her shorts, before wiggling her fingers in the air beside her ears, as if sending little messages to her brain. “I can seeeeeeee, Keith. I can seeeeee that youuu-” she starts wiggling her fingers in his face this time. “I can see that youuu are having worrieeeeees about the new roooommaaaates.” She taps his nose a bunch until he’s batting her away and she’s sitting back with a grin, reaching for another pizza slice. “It’s no biggy, Keith, I know you’re not a people person. They know that too, none of us expect you to be best friends as soon as the door opens.”

The giant (ugly) victorian clock that Shiro bought for their living room is the only thing making noise for a few moments as it ticks away on the wall behind Keith- that and the sound of Pidge humming happily as she munches on her pizza. Thinking about what she said, he finds that he isn’t all that hungry anymore.

“You know, you might be interested to know that Lance is taking astrobiology as part of his course.”

Keith fights the urge to sigh. “And why would that interest me, Pidge?”

She either ignores the malice or doesn’t pick up on it at all as she shrugs. “You might end up in the same class together. He comes across as a major drama queen but don’t let that scare you, he’s chill.”

Keith doesn’t answer, but considers chewing on his pizza just so he doesn’t have to say anything.

“Aw, what!!” He turns with wide eyes to see Pidge sat upright and glaring at her phone. “Walkers crisps are holding a choose me or lose me poll for their crisp flavours, and between salt and vinegar vs lime and black pepper, salt and vinegar is losing!”

She turns to Keith with the most distraught look on her face that Keith can’t help but snort, which only has her scowling.

“Keith, this isn’t funny! Salt and vinegar is literally the best crisp flavour, if they ditch it because some lame ass Walkers fans are fangirling over new flavours then I’m writing an angry email! I’m not about to buy smart price crisps!”

He lets out a loud laugh at that, having to put his pizza on the coffee table so he doesn’t throw it. “You gonna caps lock them to death?” He jokes, but she’s already crawling across the floor to get her abandoned laptop by the television stand.

“Fucking damn right I will! And if they ignore me I’ll send another one.” She starts rapidly typing and Keith finds himself chuckling into his hands. “And I’ll attach a fucking virus. I’m gonna drain them! Penny by penny! You wait, don’t doubt me.”

He knows better than to doubt her.

-

Pidge is dozing on Keith’s shoulder, both of them ignoring the show that she's put on the television. Food makes Pidge sleepy, and when she’s out she’s out like the dead, so Keith decides that he’d best get her to move now before he has to drag her.

“C’mon, Pigeon.” He murmurs, shaking her shoulder lightly. “If you’ve not got a text from Hunk I don’t think they’ll be here until later in the morning.” He checks her phone that’s slipping from her hand, and finds that nope. No texts. And it’s 1am. Not necessarily late for them at all, but they’re nearing food coma state.

With a loud groan, Pidge slowly starts to slide off the couch to lie on the floor. “You’re right,” she mumbles, rolling onto her front so she can push herself upwards and look around the room. “We’d better clean up.”

“I thought you said these guys wouldn’t care about a messy apartment?”

She’s chewing on her lip now though, eyeing the empty food wrappers scattered everywhere, the dirty clothes, the big box of computer parts and wires that’s overflowing in the corner.

Keith personally finds it overly difficult to care about it, though. The most he’s willing to do is stand up and pick up the pizza boxes, relocating them to the island in the kitchen area. Pidge is already up by the time he turns around and she’s shutting off electricals, kicking at clothes and wrappers and using her hoodie sleeve to try and wipe at the smudges on the glass balcony doors.

“Katie, go to bed. From what you told me about them, they already know I’m a slob.” He hates that he meant for that to be a little vicious, but he mustn't have come across that way anyway because she just shuffles past him and starts to put the leftover pizza in the fridge.

“You’re right. They’re not going to care.” She starts chewing on her thumbnail though and he looks away towards the hallway.

“I’m going to bed, I have work later.” He turns back to Pidge to see she’s started wiping down the kitchen counters, which hadn’t been used because hello, the extent of their cooking abilities includes boiling the kettle to make noodles. “Are you gonna be okay?”

She waves a hand at him lazily, “Yeah, you go. I’m just going to… yeah, you to go bed.”

He nods even though her back is to him and almost feels guilty about not wanting to clean the apartment with her for the new roommates. Then he walks past Shiro’s empty side of his bedroom to collapse on his own bed and finds himself immediately forgetting about that guilt.

-

Keith jolts awake to loud banging.

His first instinct is to reach into his side drawer for his knife (which is so blunt he could barely slice a cake with it nevermind cut through skin so calm down), but after a few moments he recognises the banging to be a knock at the door. He groans, slapping his hand over his face and hoping that they either go away or that Pidge is awake to get it. They don’t go away. And after a few long moments he realises that Pidge was left alone with leftover pizza last night and is going to be dead to the world for a while.  
Wait a minute, Keith has work today, did he accidentally sleep through his alarm?

He checks his phone, squinting at the harsh glare, but then flops back on his bed and shuts them completely with a groan when he finds that no, he hasn’t overslept. Because it’s 5:15am.

He’s content to ignore the door. Just sleep. Go back to sleep. Wake up in a couple of hours and get his day over with. Right now, he just wants to sleep.

…

He’s drifting off again when the banging startles him awake for the second time and he’s groaning loudly and getting out of bed, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and the nearest top he can find before stumbling out of his room. There’s mumbling coming from behind the front door as he approaches it, and he just about makes out a murmured is it just me or does it smell like weed to you?

With a large yawn, he opens the door and rubs at his eye, too tired to scowl at whoever woke him up. He didn’t check that they’d left the door unlocked when they went to bed. Another oops.

“Oh. Wrong apartment. Sorry.”

As tired as Keith is, he isn’t so far gone that he doesn’t quickly remember about the two new roommates, and quickly guesses that the two boys with multiple luggage bags are Hunk and Lance.

Before he can register what is happening though, one of them starts rolling his two cases down the hall.  
Keith can’t quite help the fact that he glares after the shorter boy, whose back is slouched and face is set in the most deep-set scowl he’s ever seen. And he’s looked in the mirror a fair few times in his life, he knows the competition. He guesses that this one is Lance- because yeah, drama queen is the word Pidge used that certainly springs to mind for this guy.

Arms crossed, he spits out at him: “Alright Lance, if you want to sleep in the hallway that’s fine with me.”

He must have guessed correctly, because the guy spins around in disbelief and looks Keith up and down.

“Wait, you’re Pidge’s roommate? Pidge’s roommate Keith?”

Keith nods, arms tightening across his chest.

Meanwhile, Lance is straightening up and pointing a finger at him. “But you’re-” he swings his arm up and down, gesturing to all of Keith. “You’re- you’re meant to be… you’re Keith?”

“If you don’t want me to be Pidge’s Roommate Keith then feel free to bang on apartment 801’s door. I’m sure you’ll feel right at home when that guy plants his fist in your face,” he spits through clenched teeth, before turning around and walking towards Pidge’s bedroom, leaving the front door wide open.

“Pidge,” he says, opening her door to see her already sitting up in bed. “Pidge, your friends are here.”

He doesn’t give her time to stand up and answer before he’s storming back out again, not particularly thrilled to find that Lance and Hunk have pulled their stuff into the kitchen. Lance at least has the decency to look a little guilty.

“Hey, Keith, I’m sorry if we woke you-” Hunk tries, but Keith shuts the front door with a bang.

“Don’t worry about it.”

He sees Lance bristle, opening his mouth to say something but Keith is already walking away. He’s almost to his bedroom when Pidge waddles up to him whispering, “Hey, can you help with their luggage and stuff?”

He knows she actually means can you just come back and talk to them for a moment, you’re ruining how I’d imagined how our first grand meeting would be. He’s about to immediately decline when he sees the bags under her eyes.

“How long did you spend cleaning?”

She starts to flush a little, “I’ve only been asleep for about 20 minutes.”

And that’s when Keith realises that Pidge really wanted this first impression to go well. And whilst he couldn’t care less about playing nice with the guys replacing their brothers, he cares about Pidge. So he nods and begrudgingly follows her back into the living area.

Lance is stood with his back to them, foot tapping against the floor rapidly and quite clearly vibrating with anger. When he hears their footsteps, he whirls on the spot and is pointing an accusing finger at Keith, before he lays eyes on Pidge. He softens a little just as Hunk smiles widely, moving forward to wrap Pidge in a hug.

“Pidge! I’m so happy to see you again! Even if it is at 5am and I feel really really bad about being here right now!”

Despite her exhaustion, Pidge manages a laugh and returns Hunk’s hug. Which takes Keith aback because he’s never seen her hug an almost-stranger like that. Hell, she can barely hold a hug with him for over a few seconds, they’re not touchy friends.

Then he realises that Hunk isn’t a stranger to her like he is to Keith, and folds his arms again.

They separate and she turns to look at Lance, who is trying to smile but even Keith can tell it’s forced.

“Lance, you look like a train hit you, are you okay?” Pidge says from the living room and Keith snorts quietly.

“Lance decided that to defeat jet-lag he’d stay up the entire night before our flight.” Hunk confirms as he walks back over to his friend.

“Yes, and I did it to appease the Queen of England or whatever.” Lance’s eyes flicker to Keith’s for a moment, who in turn feels himself flush with anger again. “But I’m fucking destroyed and I desperately need to sleep. Immediately.”

Pidge’s face seems to fall from what Keith can see, but she’s quick to force out a laugh. “Take the first bed you find. We haven’t sorted bedrooms and stuff yet, Shiro and Matt only just left so you’re both gonna have to share with one of us.”

“That’s fine with me.” Lance mumbles, all signs of interest in anybody gone as he makes his way to the hall. A door opens and shuts. And that’s that, apparently.

Keith is still scowling though, looking at all of Lance’s bags that are just in the middle of the kitchen. Guess he really didn’t have to worry about seeming like a slob.

He isn’t about to move them- the bags. He doesn’t even know what rooms they’re all taking, and he’s exhausted himself. So, he turns around, deciding that if Lance didn’t want to make an effort then he’ll be there for Pidge’s spectacular introductory greeting another time.

“It was nice to meet you, Hunk” he lies. “But I have work later so I’d better go back to bed.” He mumbles, patting Pidge on the shoulder in goodnight and moving past her to get near the hallway.

“I'm so sorry for waking you Keith!” And it’s so sincere that Keith just believes him, flopping his wrist in acceptance as he walks down the hall to his room. He starts to hear Pidge talking to Hunk with the voice that he immediately recognises as her nervous tilt, but it’s quiet and Keith is thankful for it as he closes his bedroom door.

He’s 0.3 seconds from flopping face first into his bed to find it occupied. There are shoes and a jacket on the floor that he doesn’t own, and a brown mop of hair poking from the top of his duvet and soft snores coming from the curled-up lump beneath it.

It takes a quiet groan and a quick count to five for Keith to find his inner zen, before stealing his phone from the bedside table and relocating to the other bed in the room.

It’s fine, he tells himself. He’ll just tell this guy tomorrow to stay out of his way and, more specifically, his room. And everything will be fine.

Keith keeps trying to persuade himself of this as he curls up in Shiro’s bed.

He’s never found it all that easy to trust himself, though.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> mm'kay it's been a long time since ive attempted a multi-chapter fic, but ive been working with this on and off for up to a couple years now (mostly because they were all half-assed, separate ideas that i didnt expect to go anywhere and hey look at it now)  
> hopefully this baby goes somewhere nice, i have a bunch of themes and symbols i have for certainty but in terms of plot i have just a general direction so im just going to wing that bit and hope it works out in the end  
> the paladins are so fun to write for, so i just wanted to torture them a little bit  
> fic name is a song by muse, and this chapter's name is from rise against's sudden life  
> alright! lets get this show started! all feedback is welcome and appreciated


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